Applicant Privacy

Last Updated: March 2024

Omni (RMS) is the dedicated recruitment partner of Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USSL), and its wholly owned subsidiary USS Investment Management (USSIM), herein referred to as Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). Omni manage the recruitment process on behalf of USS, including the applicant portal – Appellia.

USS is one of the largest principal private pension schemes for universities and other higher education institutions in the UK. USS looks forward to receiving your application.

Omni's registered office is at Charter House, Woodlands Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1HF and we are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 03278470. Omni are registered on the Information Commissioner's Office Register of Data Controllers under registration number Z7378991 and act as the data controller and data processor. Omni's designated Data Protection Lead can be contacted at [email protected].

USSL has its registered office at the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, L3 1PY and are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 01167127. USSL are registered on the Information Commissioner's Office Register of Data Controllers under registration number Z5491571 and act as a data controller. USS's Data Protection Officer can be contacted by telephone (0151) 227 4711 or 0845 068 1110 (local rate call charge number), lines are open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm. Alternatively you can use the 'contact us' page on their website www.uss.co.uk

What personal information will be collected?

Both USS and Omni take great care to ensure that the information it collects is processed in a way that meets legal and, statutory obligations, together with the contractual obligations between both Omni and USS. This includes having appropriate procedures and practices in place to ensure your personal information and rights are protected, in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

We will collect personal information that you provide as part of the application and recruitment process for the purposes of:

  • Processing your application for a vacancy with USS
  • Complying with all applicable laws e.g. employment law
  • Background screening and pre-employment checking
  • Contacting you about future vacancies with USS (if you provide your consent)

The personal information, may include your:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Contact information
  • Employment details including salary
  • Qualifications
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Eligibility to work in the UK

We collect information in the following ways:

  • Online application form through Appellia (including CV upload)
  • Over the phone / in person
  • From Recruitment Agencies

Special Category Data

We may sometimes need to request sensitive (special category) personal information from you should you be successful in your application for employment. Sometimes we will require your consent to collect and process sensitive personal information and this will be made clear to you. We may also have a legitimate interest to collect and process information to ensure we are complying with employment law. For example, health and medical information. Therefore this processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of USS, and of you as the data subject in the field of employment. We will only request the information required for the specified purpose.

Equal opportunities monitoring

As part of USS's commitment to employing a diverse workforce, we will send you an equal opportunities form by email at the point of application submission. The completion of this questionnaire is entirely optional. All information collected is done so separately and anonymously and is not linked in any way to your application. Further information on how this data is collected and used will be provided at the point of collection.

Marketing

Once you have submitted your application, Omni RMS and USS would love to keep in contact with you about future vacancies with USS that may be suitable for you. This could be by email, SMS or phone. We will always treat your personal contact details with the utmost care, and will never sell them on to anyone else for marketing purposes.

You will be given the choice to opt in to receive this information during the application process.

How we use your personal data (legal basis for processing).

Omni and USS take your privacy very seriously and have procedures in place to ensure your information and rights are protected. We only retain your information for as long as is necessary and for the purposes specified in this notice. Where you have consented to us providing you with marketing, you are free to withdraw consent at any time. The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below:

Consent:

You have the option to decide if you would like to receive information regarding future roles and make your selection accordingly. If at any point you change your mind, you can let us know by contacting [email protected]

Legitimate interest:

Omni and USS need to share and process your personal information in order to fulfil your request to apply for a vacancy with USS.

If at any point you change your mind, you can ask for your application to be withdrawn or for your details to be deleted by contacting [email protected]

The GDPR provides you the right to know the following:

  • What personal data we hold about you
  • The purposes of the processing
  • The categories of personal data concerned
  • The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
  • How long we intend to store your personal data for
  • If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source

Also, if you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to update/correct it as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing in accordance with data protection laws, as well as to object to any direct marketing from us.

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the relevant request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

You can exercise your rights at any time by contacting [email protected]

Sharing and Disclosing Your Personal Information

We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, unless we have a legitimate interest to do so, for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement. Omni and USS will never sell your information to anyone.

Our Service Providers

This includes external third party service providers such as auditors, legal advisors, recruitment agencies and other outside professional advisors; IT systems support and hosting service providers; technical engineers; data storage and cloud providers; internal reporting software providers and other similar third party vendors and outsourced service providers that assist us in carrying out our business activities. Third party suppliers include:

CA Three

If you are successful and an offer of employment is made by USS, Omni (on the instructions of USS) will share certain information relating to your new position and benefits package with CAThree Limited. CAThree provide a separate portal that new starters can access before they join USS.

Vero Screening Limited

Vero Screening Limited (Trading name 'Accurate') are USS' background checking partner appointed to run pre-employment checks if an employment offer is made by USS. Omni and USS will share limited but necessary personal information with Vero. Vero will then make contact with you directly to obtain consent for further background checks.

Recruitment Agencies

Omni and USS work with preferred supplier recruitment agencies. In the event that a recruitment agency uploads your information to the Appellia portal on your behalf, Omni and USS will take steps to ensure a privacy notice is sent to you, within 30 days, outlining the ways in which your data will be processed.

Technical and Organisational Measures

Omni and USS take your privacy seriously and we take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal information. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place.

International Transfers of Personal Information

During the application process the Personal information which you supply to us will not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area.

Consequences of Not Providing Your Data

You are not obligated to provide your personal information to USS or to Omni; however, as this information is required for us to consider an application; we will not be able to consider you for vacancies without it.

How long will you keep hold of my information?

If your application is successful, the applicant portal (Appellia) will store your information for a period of twelve months. Your Personal Information will then be anonymised and retained for Data and MI reporting purposes for 5 years. The anonymised data will then be deleted. As a USS employee, USS will continue to process your information for the duration of your employment and retain your information in line with their record retention policy.

If your application is unsuccessful and no further application or contact is made for twelve months, your application will be anonymised and retained for Data and MI reporting purposes for 5 years. Then anonymised data will then be deleted.

Where you have consented to us using your details for direct marketing, we will keep such data for twelve months from the point of your application or until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent, whichever is sooner.

Lodging a Complaint

Omni and USS only process your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority – Information Commissioners Office (ICO). You can also contact us in the first instance using the contact details below:

Omni RMS
Charter House, Woodlands Road, Altrincham, WA14 1HF
Data Protection Lead
[email protected]
0161 929 4343

USS
Royal Liver Building. Liverpool, L3 1PY
Data Protection Officer
T(0151) 227 4711 or 0845 068 110 (local rate charge number) or;
Use the 'contact us' page on www.uss.co.uk

Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
T 0303 123 1113
https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Updates

We may update this privacy notice from time to time without notice to you and any revised privacy notice will appear on this page. You should check back frequently for any updates or changes to this notice.